Pony Unknown
by DEATHxCHAN
Summary: Same idea as in X-COM: Pony Within, just that Twilight manages to get back to her world on her own. But, it wouldn't be interesting if Dr. Vahlen, Dr. Shen and Central Officer Bradford wouldn't get sucked inside the collapsing portal. Oh and I put a lot less effort into this. Sorry ;-)
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"I can't belief it has been already two years." Bradford stated as he, Dr. Vahlen and Dr. Shen were going down with the lift, to see whatever a scientist had discovered. X-COM was at the verge of becoming the biggest company selling the newest hardware.

Two years without any aliens, so the council decided as long as they had time to breath, they might as well try to see what they could do for the general community.

"I just hope this won't take too long." Dr. Vahlen stated. Dr. Shen shook his head. In his opinion his colleague spent way too much time inside the HQ. They finally had the chance to get some sunlight and the lead scientist barely used it.

They arrived at the last level and stepped out, walking down the hallway towards laboratory 10. They were already halfway through, when suddenly an alarm went through the entire base. A special sound of the alarm, nobody hoped to hear ever again: alien activity.

"Damn it!" Bradford immediately turned around and started running. Unfortunately the power shut down, meaning he would have to take the stairs. "Sir!" A man spoke through intercom. "There's a complete power shutdown on level 4! We also detected alien activity in lab 14! The Commander is in there!"

"WHAT?! Send a strike team down here. NOW!" Bradford took out his plasma pistol and started dashing towards the laboratory. It was time he would make up to the Commander what he owed her from operation Ashes and Temples.

"Sir! We detect a large energy signature next to the Commander. She doesn't respond to any of-"

"Everyone…"

"Commander?!" Multiple voices spoke through intercom.

"Thank you for everything." They heard her voice. "But this is goodbye."

"Commander?!"

"What are you talking about?!" Dr. Shen shouted, who had a hard time keeping up with Vahlen and Bradford.

"I'll never forget you…my friends."

The communication was cut off.

"S-Sir, the Commander's signature….it's…"

Bradford kicked the door open and pointed his pistol everywhere. His gaze stopped in front of some kind of purple energy, which resembled some kind of oval door. Dr. Vahlen, Shen and a bunch of X-COM personal from all sections arrived.

"What is this?" A security guard asked.

Dr. Vahlen used her tablet to run through a quick scan. "It's….I can't even get a clear reading."

Suddenly it was like the portal started vibrating. "Get away from there!" A woman shouted and immediately most of them took careful steps back. The three heads of X-COM didn't react quickly enough. The portal suddenly expanded and acted like a vacuum.

"AHH!" Bradford standing right in the middle of the room got sucked in. Dr. Shen had been holding on the doorframe, but wasn't strong enough to hold on and eventually got sucked inside as well. Dr. Vahlen held out longer on the other doorframe, but eventually her strength was leaving her hands and before anyone could help her, she disappeared through the energy with a scream.

The portal collapsed afterwards.

XIII

The sound of birds could be heard as the three humans groaned simultaneously. Bradford was the first one to get up to his feet, as he scanned their surroundings. They were on some kind of grass field, with a few trees here and there. The sky was clear blue and the air fresh.

"Where…where are we?" Dr. Shen asked, looking around. "Is this still earth? Another planet? Dimension?" He readjusted his glasses.

Dr. Vahlen was rubbing her forehead, a big headache building up inside her head. She looked around, just as confused as the other two humans with her. Her memories came back one by one, until she was at the verge of panicking. Knowing it wouldn't help any of them if she panicked, she started frantically typing on her tablet.

"No internet, no satellite connection…in case this is still earth, then we're in the middle of nowhere."

"Whatever this place is" Bradford double checked his pistol again "sitting around won't help us one bit. I think we can say for sure that the Commander went through this portal. Our objective is it to find her. I have a feeling she knows what the meaning of this is."

The trio was on their way in a random direction, hoping for the best. Dr. Vahlen decided to speak soon after they started walking. "She said...this is goodbye. Is it possible that she was the one who created the portal?"

"How?" Dr. Shen asked. "And are you actually suggesting that she is an alien?"

"Bradford's eye twitched. "It is too early to say." the female doctor replied. "She might as well have been abducted. But the way she said those words through intercom, it sounded like she was expecting this to happen for a long time."

Bradford couldn't deny this fact, as much as he didn't want to belief it.

The next ten minutes were spent in silence among each of them, until they found a dirt path. It gave them hope that they were actually still on earth. However after walking for one hour straight, Dr. Shen was getting tired, not really being the youngest anymore.

Bradford sighed as they needed to take a break for the doctor, who placed himself on the grass. Dr. Vahlen used the break in order to get some kind of connection to the X-COM satellites, but failed. Bradford looked around, searching for anything that might want to kill them. There was a forest coming up to the right, but the path continued both right and left. There was also a river nearby, the only water source.

"Okay you two, we'll continue down the river. It's the only water source we have for now."

"Mein Gott." Vahlen facepalmed. She could think of at least a hundred reasons why drinking water from a river was a bad idea nowadays, but it was the only option they had. She decided to hold out until she couldn't bear it anymore.

"Phew, my old bones aren't what they're used to be." Bradford helped Dr. Shen up. "Just hold tight doctor and remember. We either go on or die."

"That's reassuring." Dr. Vahlen said in a sarcastic matter.

"It's better to face the facts." the central officer stated and moved on.

Dr. Shen searched through his pockets, looking if left anything useful inside of them, but found nothing worth mentionable. As time passed, Dr. Vahlen found it harder and harder to resist complaining. In the end, the only reason she didn't do so, was because Bradford probably would have shot her, if she complained too much. The man was on a short fuse at the moment.

Another half an hour later, the trio was climbing up a hill, hoping to get a good view of their surroundings.

"Come on, you two. We're almost there." Bradford assured.

"I...didn't...sign...up...for...this..." Vahlen panted.

Dr. Shen was even too tired to complain. He was supporting himself on his knees and was wiping the sweat away from his forehead.

Bradford was the first one to arrive up there and stretched himself. "Come on you two. Looks like we're lucky. There's a farm down there." This inspired the two doctors to use the rest of their energy reserves and increase their pace. Finally on top, the two couldn't help, but collapse on the ground once again.

Bradford shook his head, but smiled none the less.

After getting her breath back, the German scientist spoke up. "This looks like...an apple farm? I've never heard of one."

"Well this is unusual" Dr. Shen walked up "But...I have to admit. I could use an apple or two."

"Maybe we could ask if we can have some and use their phone. Though, I don't see any cables nearby." Bradford said.

"I still can't connect to anything. Ughn, of all farms we could end up, it had to be the one farthest away from civilization." Vahlen complained.

"It's better than nothing. Let's go."

"Slave driver." Vahlen muttered under her breath. The three walked down the hill, carefully trying to avoid tripping over their own legs. When they finally arrived down, the trio walked towards a path and walked towards the house.

"These people really must live in the past." the German woman said.

"It wouldn't surprise me, if they missed the invasion completely." the chef engineer said smiling a little over his own joke. Bradford put his pistol away, before further approaching the house. The smell of apples was all over the air.

Bradford prepared himself for eventual complications, like the people speaking a language he didn't know. Good thing this would be the least of his problems. Before he could knock on the door, there was a voice behind.

"Can ah help ya...folks?" A voice asked carefully. The trio turned around. Bradford was about to say something, but the words where stuck inside his throat. In front of him was an orange horse, wearing a Stetson. Its eyes were big and green, but the horse itself was pretty small. On both sides of her flanks was a tattoo of three apples.

"What are ya lookin' at? Never seen a pony in yer life?"

"It talks!" Dr. Vahlen exclaimed.

"Hey, who ya calling "it"? That's mighty rude of ya!" The pony exclaimed.

"I guess...that confirms it. We're not on our planet anymore." Dr. Shen stated as calmly and slowly as possible.

"Watcha talking 'bout? Y'all not making any sense!"

Bradford rubbed his forehead. "This is getting more complicated by the minute."

"Well, why don't ya all come in and tell mah yer story? We're pretty used to strange things happening around these parts, ya know?"

The trio of humans looked at each other. "I think this is the best solution for now. And my old bones could use some rest." Dr. Shen admitted.

"Alright, come in. By the way, the name's Applejack. What are yours?"

"You can call me Dr. Shen. This is Doctor Vahlen and this is Central Officer Bradford."

"What officer now? Whatever. Just get insight and we'll get to talk."

The inside looked pretty much how humans would decorate their houses. Except the photos of ponies hanging around.

"Sorry, if ah'm a little rude here, but ah'm on a tight schedule today. So, what's yer story? Oh yeah, take a seat, wherever ya want."

Bradford took place in a way too small chair, while the two doctors took place on the couch. "Well miss... Applejack...You see, this might be hard to belief, but we're actually from another planet."

"Another planet? Now that's something. But nothing new."

The three humans looked stunned at the orange pony in front of them. "It's not?" Dr. Vahlen asked. "Well, it's a long story. The short version is, mah friend once traveled into another world. Actually she already did it three times."

"Three times?" Dr. Shen asked, crossing his fingers and leaning forward. "Yeah. The first two were on purpose, but the third time was a total accident. She actually just returned a few hours ago. Ah can tell ya, we were all worried sick. Ah'm gonna give that gal a good smack over the head after the party."

Bradford put a hand under his chin. "We arrived here ourselves only a couple of hours ago. It might be connected."

"Really? Well darn toothin. Looks like Twi messed up again. She probably took ya three with her. She's the best there is at magic, but sometimes it just goes wrong."

"Magic." Dr. Vahlen repeated in a deadpan tone.

"APPLEJACK!"

The trio of humans was startled by the sudden scream, while the owner of the house facehoofed. "Oh no."

The door was slammed open and from one moment to the other a pink pony was standing in front of AJ, somehow holding a megaphone with her hoof. "YOU ARE LATE FOR THE PARTY!" Applejack was thrown against the wall, as if they were in some kind of cartoon. AJ groaned in pain as she shoved the light stand away and got up.

"Pinkie Pie, ah'm coming, but ah have some guests."

"Guests? *GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSP*!" Pinkie jumped in mid-air and disappeared to the outside while still being in mid-air.

"What was..." Bradford trailed off.

"Ah, that's just Pinkie Pie. Just don't ask, y'all gonna get used to her." AJ dusted her legs off and shook herself. "Anyways, ah'm mighty sorry, but ah hafta get going. Why don't y'all come along? Ah'm pretty sure mah friend can help ya."

The three humans looked at each other. "I guess this is the best shot we have. And we might actually find out what happened to the Commander." Bradford said.

Dr. Shen nodded. "I agree. Her "friend" might know something about the Commander's disappearance. And even if not, we might be able to go and come back with reinforcements."

Dr. Vahlen sighed. "As much as this goes against my philosophy, I guess we have no other choice."

"Alright! Ah need to get to the barn first. Just wait for me outside."

XIII

As it turned out, Applejack came out with a cart loaded with apple cider. She offered each of them a bottle, but only Dr. Shen accepted the offer. Bradford wasn't really thirsty and as for Vahlen, she was just overcautious.

"Mmm! This is really good. I think I'll never be able to drink apple cider from the supermarket again."

"That's the quality of the Apple Family for ya." AJ said, proudly holding up her head.

When the town came into view, the first thing that stood out where all the colors of the houses. It looked like straight out of a children book. The citizens also appeared in all kinds of colors. There were some pegasi, like from the greek mythology. Dr. Vahlen noted their wings were actually too small to carry the ponies. Then there were normal ponies like Applejack and...unicorns. One of them was more interested in the humans, than the others. It was mint green, had a white streak in her mane and a lyre on each side of her flank.

"OH MY GOSH! YOU'RE HUMANS!" The unicorn screeched.

"Humans?" a random pony asked.

"But they're just a myth." another pony said.

"Well they do resemble humans from those children books."

"Lyra has to know best."

The humans sweatdropped. Something was wrong, when a unicorn said that you're just a myth.

"Easy there sugercube." Applejack stepped Bradford and the now dubbed Lyra. "Give them some air, will ya? Those fellas just arrived here in these parts."

A small crowd of ponies gathered within seconds around the group, accompanied by murmurs like "alien invasion". None of the humans missed the irony in that part.

"Get out of the way!" A pony shouted. "Make place for the Princesses!" The same voice shouted. Excited whispering started and the ponies in front of the humans got out of the way, slowly.

"Don't ya worry. The Princesses are all real nice." Applejack assured the three humans.

"So is this...the capital?" Dr. Vahlen asked. She actually doubted it, but with Princesses around it was the logical conclusion. "Nah, mah friend is one of them and when they heard she was back, hoo wee." Applejack smiled at the memory. "She's also the friend ah spoke of."

She didn't get any further, because the pony princesses were now approaching. One of them actually had the size of a horse. Dr. Vahlen's tablet wasn't really made for any scans, but it had a few things installed on it. She got some high energy readings, especially from the white and the black one. The white princess had a calm smile on her face, while the black one looked at them in doubt, while the pink one was curious. As for the lavender colored one, who also was the smallest of the four, she was...shocked.

"Dr. Vahlen?! Dr. Shen?! Bradford?!" she exclaimed, causing everyone and -pony looking at her.

"You...know our names?" Bradford asked, his hand slowly getting towards his plasma pistol. The Princess facehoofed. "Don't tell me you actually followed me?"

"Followed you?!" Dr. Vahlen exclaimed.

Bradford's grip tightened on his pistol.

"Urrgh, I hoped I could avoid this." she said, before her horn started glowing in purple light. Soon her entire body followed until only a silhouette could be seen. The silhouette rapidly changed and soon took on the form of a human. The light vanished and a woman in X-COM uniform appeared in front of the audience.

"Commander?!" the three humans exclaimed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"I've got good news." Twilight entered her throne room, where her friends, including Celestia, Luna and Cadance, and the three humans were waiting for her. "And I've got bad news."

"What's the proper order?" Bradford asked out of habit. After a rather short story of how Twilight got and lived on earth, she didn't mention any details, she left for her library and came back about ten minutes later. The group had been in silence ever since.

"I can send you back, but we'll have to wait at least a year." Twilight told them, placing herself on her throne. Her breaths were a little heavy.

"Are ya alright sugercube?" Applejack asked. Twilight waved off with her hoof. "Side effects of using Elyrium in order to get me a little strength boost in order to get back to Equestria. I'll be fine, but I think I'm going to sleep for a day or so, after I explained the entire situation."

Princess Celestia walked up to the lavender mare. "Perhaps you should rest. I'm sure we can wait another day for a full explanation. And perhaps we should let a doctor examine you."

"No, Elyrium is completely harmless to us ponies. As much as it gives me a power boost, it also exhausts me much faster."

"Which explains how you survived the incident with the Elyrium canisters." Dr. Vahlen said. Twilight nodded. "I started experimenting with Elyrium the first time we acquired some. I never needed much, so no one ever noticed and I made sure we would never run out. More than one time during the invasion I needed to hold up my experiments.

Anyways, the reason I can't send you back, look at this." Twilight's horn lit up and a second later something like a holographic screen appeared in front of the humans.

"Fascinating." Dr. Shen readjusted his glasses. A small blue spots appeared on some kind of violet grid. "This is Equis, the planet we're currently on." Next a bright yellow/orange ball appeared. "This is our sun." Waves of red and orange emitted from the holographic sun.

"Solar waves." Dr. Shen stated.

"I could ignore them thanks to the Elyrium. It's like I created an invisible tunnel with a forcefield around it from Earth to Equis." Another blue point appeared a little away. Between the two blue points a violet line appeared going straight through the solar waves. "Since I don't have any Elyrium here, the solar waves would simply crush through the tunnel and let it collapse completely." The waves wiped the violet line away.

"I've been researching our sun, moon, and the stars for quite some time until one of my experiments literally catapulted me to Earth. Our sun has a very particular cycle with its solar waves. During a particular time of the year they are very weak. Weak enough for me to just redo my experiment under controlled conditions and send you straight back to Earth. Hopefully without landing in the garden with a 5 year old girl playing inside of it."

The holographic screen turned off and Twilight closed her eyes, taking deep breaths. "Twilight!" her five friends and Spike ran over to her.

"Don't even think about it. He's my little brother." Twilight addressed Dr. Vahlen. Everyone turned towards her and saw she had been looking at Spike. "Whatever do you mean?"

"Come on doctor. Bradford himself called you the worst nightmare of an alien. We all know how much you have been looking forward into "interrogating" new aliens."

"What's this whole talk about aliens anyway?" Spike asked a little clueless. Princess Cadance walked up and levitated Twilight up. "I think I'll bring her into her bedroom. Guards, send a doctor. I don't know anything about this..."Elyrium", but we shouldn't take any risks."

"Isn't Elyrium not deadly?" Bradford asked. Vahlen nodded but added. "Unless it is in the form of liquid or gas. It kills a human within seconds after it entered the system." The Doctor explained. "There ARE exceptions, which is why I didn't suspect anything, when the Com-..._she _survived with none damage on her internal organs. Another worker survived with minimal damage."

"And the rest died." Dr. Shen cleaned his glasses.

It didn't exactly help anypony calming down.

XIII

"So let me get this straight, your Princess conducted an experiment with her _magic?_" Bradford asked pacing back and forth in the HUGE library. Shen and Vahlen were sitting on some chairs, while Celestia was standing in front of all of them, a calm expression on her face. "Then she turned herself into a human, infiltrated somehow the probably highest protected facility we have in order to get back?"

"Area 51 and later our HQ." Dr. Shen said. "It is ironic. X-COM was created to fight back aliens and yet we found ourselves with an alien leading us against the invasion. A pony of all things." he laughed wholeheartedly.

"I don't see what's so funny, Dr. Shen." Dr. Vahlen growled.

"Leave him alone doctor." Bradford told her. "As much as I hate to think about how an alien was capable of infiltrating us, I think I understand why she did this. We're not exactly friendly to anything unknown, are we?" he asked.

"And for a good reason." Dr. Vahlen muttered. Celestia's face never changed. "Twilight told me it would be a little hard to convince you that we are no thread to your kind. I can fully understand that you're frustrated because of her actions. I don't expect me to tell you your full story, but rest assured Twilight eventually will. Whatever happened in your world, it changed her."

Celestia turned her head to each of them. "I am sure you three need to settle everything in. I'll personally see to it that guest rooms will be prepared for you. You're free to explore the castle or Ponyville, although I advice you stay inside these halls for now. If you need anything just ask one of the guards. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"What makes us sure you don't plan anything with us?" Bradford asked bluntly. Celestia's horn glowed up, making everyone immovable. "We already would have." Celestia replied before releasing them. "Rest assured you won't be harmed by any of my ponies unless one of you harms them of course."

Celestia turned around and left the library. Bradford turned around towards the two sitting humans. "So, looks like we're stuck here for a while. Any suggestions?"

"We should obviously try to find a way to contact earth, if not find a way back." Dr. Vahlen said.

"With what equipment? Your tablet?" Dr. Shen asked pointing at the thing she was holding. He stood up and walked towards the window. "Just look at the houses. It doesn't look to me like they're even using electricity."

"So what? We just wait and hope that one day _she _will send us home just like that?" the woman of the trio asked.

"What other choice do we have?" Dr. Shen asked. "We have one plasma pistol. Plus we don't know anything about the environment of this place. None of us has telepathic abilities and all of them who at least have a horn seem to have some."

"Magic." Bradford rolled his eyes. "It doesn't seem like we have another choice. She will probably be highly guarded, considering they referred to her as a princess. Even with our superior weapons, one gun is just one gun. We can't bluff our wait out of here either, since she knows our tactics all too well and what we're capable off. As much as I hate this decision, we have no other choice BUT to wait. Look, I hate being betrayed too, but right now we better play by the rules until we know more."

"So we just sit down and do nothing?" Dr. Vahlen asked.

"As I said, we have no other choice. We're outnumbered, have no means of contacting let alone going back to earth. She seemed pretty surprised on our appearance here, so I think it wasn't planned. And I highly doubt they belong to the same alien group we thought. It wouldn't make sense for them to help us win the war."

All of them were silent after this. Dr. Vahlen had to admit, all they really could do was wait and hope for the best. On this planet the humans were the aliens and considering they only had one plasma pistol, trying to survive in an unknown environment, while hiding from the locals would be pretty foolish.

"If you'd excuse me gentlemen, I think I'm going to look for a room got myself where I can hit my head over and over again until I wake up from this nightmare." Dr. Vahlen stood up from her chair and walked out of the library. "I guess that's one way of dealing with this situation." Bradford rubbed his chin.

Shen shook his head and walked over to the man. "And you? How do you plan on dealing with this situation?" the chef engineer asked.

"Is there anything you're referring to?" Bradford asked. Dr. Shen shook his head again. "Everyone one knows about the companionship between the two of you."

"I'll be fine doctor." The central officer replied. "I'm just keeping my cool and trying to cope with the fact that we're stuck on a planet with candy colored horses being the dominate race here. I also try to cope with the fact that our commander was one of them the entire time. How am I supposed to deal with this situation?"

Dr. Shen sighed. "I guess we all have to deal with it our own way. I for my part am interested in the structure of this place and the materials that were used to build it. Since we're stuck here for a year, if we're lucky, then we might as well use our time here in doing something."

Dr. Shen left Bradford in the library. "There isn't exactly anything I can do." Bradford said as he was left alone in the library. He looked around in the massive library. "She always has been a bookworm."

_XIII_

_"Commander?"_

_"Hmm? Oh officer. Sorry, I guess I spaced out." the commander put the book she had been reading on the table._

_"A book?" Bradford asked. "I've slowed down in my reading. I only managed to finish 20 books the past week." She pointed at a pile of books in a corner to which Bradford could only sweatdrop. There were at least 50 of them._

_XIII_

Meanwhile in Twilight's personal chambers, which have been kept clean and in top condition all these years, her friends were gathered around her sleeping figure on her bed. "Will she be alright?" Fluttershy asked.

The lead doctor pony out of a total group of twenty sighed. "We can't say for sure. This..."Elyrium" is completely new to us. So far it seems that Princess Twilight just exhausted her magic, but we can't say for sure until we have the results of the blood tests."

"Ah horsefeathers! Come on Twi! You wouldn't leave us hanging!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

Rarity put a comforting hoof on Rainbow's shoulder. "Don't worry darling. Twilight said she had been working with it and said it wasn't poisonous or something. I think she would know better than anypony else to use something dangerous, even if it means to come back to us."

Cadance walked closer to the bed. She nuzzled her sister in law on the cheek. "We're finished." The lead doctor pony said. "We'll keep you up to date. For now, we should let the princess rest."

"Can we stay here?" Pinkie asked, being unusually calm. The doctor pony nodded. "Yes, our magical scans showed it is safe to stay near her. Just don't put her under too much stress. I'm sorry princess, but the party will have to wait." The doctor addressed the party princess with a small smile.

The doctors all left the room, leaving the princesses (and prince Spike) on their own. Spike immediately climbed into Twilight's bed, wrapping his tiny arms around her. The ponies around the bed let out silent 'awwws'. In her sleep Twilight wrapped her forelegs around Spike and pressed him firmly against herself.

XIII

Despite Celestia's advice, Dr. Shen walked outside the castle, but stayed within castle grounds. He had seen the castle from outside before, but now he wanted to take a closer look on it.

"Fascinating." he mumbled. "A castle completely made out of crystal. Hmm, I wonder. Where did those ponies get all the materials from? Surely it can't be made completely out of crystal." he continued musing to himself as he wandered around.

"Hmm, most peculiar the tree shaped design. Ah, of course. Now it makes sense."

_XIII_

_"Commander, Sergeant Brian volunteered for the mech-what is this?"_

_"Oh!" The commander looked up flustered. "Hehe, looks like you caught me doctor." On the desk of the commander were lying a bunch of drawings about ponies. There were also pegasi and unicorns and one which can only be described as a pegacorn._

_"I didn't take you for...that kind of person." Most peculiar were the tattoos on the flanks of the ponies. "This war is driving me nuts to be honest. There's always a country which is complaining about this and that and on top of that, the council always seems to request missions, when half of my veterans are injured."_

_Dr. Shen suspected she remembered the mission where she had to send 4 rookies and only two veterans. Since it had been a one in a lifetime opportunity to storm the alien battle-ship, they had to take the chances._

_[I had one mech-soldier, one assault seargent and four rookies available in that mission, but luckily I had some good weapons. I lost two rookies and my sergeant, almost my mech too.]_

_"I think when this is over I'll just take my salary and become cartoonist." She said taking out a picture of a castle tree. "But enough about that. You said Sergeant Brian wants to become one of our mech-soldiers? Tell him he has to wait. I want to keep the melt in case any repairs are necessary and aside from that, we simply don't have the budget to make another mech this month. I'm sorry."_

_"I understand. I'll write him down on the wait list then." Dr. Shen replied. "You know doctor, I can't help but wonder."_

_"About what?"_

_"Well, the future of this planet is on the line, yet the council only gives us a limited budget. What's more, I can't help but feel the aliens are holding back on us..."_

_XIII_

"We never found out why." Dr. Shen said out loud, remembering the second part of their conversation.

"Are you Dr. Shen?"

The man turned around to see one of the guards in purple armor talking to him. "Yes? Can I help you somehow?"

"I am here to inform you that dinner will be served shortly. I also am here to escort you to the dining hall."

"Thank you very much. Shall we go?"


End file.
